Madison Baxter may be just 12 years old, but she already knows her life’s passion: football.

The sport comes easy to Madison, who goes by the nickname Maddy. She’s 5 feet 5 inches tall, and as a defensive tackle, doesn’t shy away from hard hits.

In the last year, parents at Strong Rock Christian School in Locust Grove, Ga. became accustomed to seeing Maddy, with her curly hair in a French braid tucked under her helmet, charging at the opposing team on the football field. The crowd cheered when she sacked her first quarterback. Other coaches stopped her in the parking lot after games to say that she’d done a good job.

So when the school told Maddy’s mother last week that it would no longer allow her to play on the boys' football team, Maddy was shocked.